


Fading Light

by Denmarksderps



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Brotherly Love, Drabble, Gen, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Over the Garden Wall, References to Depression, Returning to the Unknown, The Unknown (Over the Garden Wall)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 17:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16496606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denmarksderps/pseuds/Denmarksderps
Summary: Wirt is thankful that even though he was not supposed to return, he did.





	Fading Light

**Author's Note:**

> Interpret this at your own will yo
> 
> I've been wanting to write something for a while and then this morning I got struck with this and so I drabbled haha..ha..

Wirt was not supposed to return, **he knows this**.

 **He knows** because of the merlot-coloured vines, adorning his skin in the form of tattoos, that keep expanding across his arms and torso as time goes by. A mock reminder that the forest, _that the Beast_ , claimed him.

At the first appearance of the vines he takes to hiding his body behind layers of clothes and no one suspects a thing, he is suddenly very thankful for the cold weather.

Physical check ups are mandatory however, and he finds himself undressing in front of the doctor, waiting for a reaction that never comes.

No one else can see the _Edelwood_ growing around him, and it only serves to validate what he is already aware of.

 **He knows** , because in the span of a few months after his and Greg’s return from _the Unknown_ , everything around him loses colour and the shadows grow darker.

Only his brother seems to have the same glow as the rest of the world used to, and Wirt finds it almost poetically ironic how Greg really did become his beacon of light, his _lantern_.

 **He knows** because he often finds sleep hard to come by, as if his body requires it no more, he hardly feels tired or exhausted when he wakes from a restless sleep lasting no more than an hour or two.

The hours Wirt does close his eyes are filled with whispers of his name as he wanders the endless woods of his mind.

He takes to writing down thoughts and poetry in the dead of the night, hoping to quell whatever _longing_ he finds tucked away in the back of his mind when the dark falls.

 **He knows** , because _Greg knows_.

He desperately wants to believe his brother is a naive, happy-go-lucky child, who has long since forgotten _the Unknown_ , who can spend his days being blissfully unaware of Wirt’s predicament, but that was a pipe dream, if anything.

Greg has taken to his side in an almost obsessive manner, never straying too far, lest he disappears the moment he turns away.

His mom and step-father does not take notice of it in the way he does, they believe it to be just an aftermath of the incident, bringing the two of them closer, but it is so much more than that and the two brothers know, even if one wishes the other did not.

Wirt’s light is _fading_ and Greg knows, so he stays by his side to keep it lit with his own.

The only genuine smiles he can muster these days are reserved for his brother.

They both know it will not work forever, the _Edelwood_ vines have almost covered his entire body by now, and if Greg has seen them, he says nothing of it, he just smiles and continues whatever tale he had been spewing.

Wirt is _thankful_ that even though he was not supposed to return, _he did_.

 **He knows** , because the last time he wakes up, it is not to the smiling face of his brother, but to the sound of faraway singing and a lantern at his feet.


End file.
